Improved apparatus for purifying and refining spirits



THOMPSON.

Apparatus for Purifying and Refining Spirits.

No. 43,141. Patented June H4, 1864.

N. PETERS. Piwio-Lillwqnphnr. Wuhingm me,

I w r 4' NITED STATES PATENT OFFI E.

' THOMAS THOMPSON, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

I'MPROV ED APPARATUS FOR PURIFYING AND REFINING SPIR ITSI Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 13,] 4 l, dated June 14, 1864.

To all 1071 0111, it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS THOMPSON, of the city and county of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful apparatus for and mode or process of refining and purifying whisky, alcohol, and other liquors which are partially or wholly of alcohol; and I do hereby declare that the following specification and accompanying drawings are sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art or science to which it most nearly appertains to make and use said apparatus and perform said process without further in vention or experiment.

The nature of myinvention consists in making the apparatus described in the following specification, by which the whisky, alcohol, or other liquor to be refined or purified is very minutely and perfectly exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, which refines and purifies them more perfectly than any other mode heretofore discovered for that purpose, and without weakening the body of the liquor like the modes heretofore practiced.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the apparatus which I have invented and perform the process I have invented or discovered, I will proceed to describe them, referring to the accompanying drawings, in which the same letters indicate like parts in each figure.

Figure l is a front elevation of the appa ratus. Fig. 2 is an end elevation:

In these drawings, A, B, and 0 represent the three floors of the building in which the refining is performed. E is a cask of crude or raw liquor to be refined, on the floor B, connected by the pipe F to the pump G on the floor 0-, which pump draws the liquor from the cask E and forces it through the pipe H into the cask I on the platform J, supported by the frames K K. The cask I is provided with a cock, L, from which the liquor runs into the trough M, which trough is provided with a series of cocks, N N N, which deliver the liquor onto the yarn or twine conductors l? P, which conduct it down into the trough Q on the floor B. The conductors P P may be made of threads of yarn or twine of some fibrous substance; but I prefer conductors made of woolen yarn called crewel, separatedby a series of rings, B R, made of bone or wood, and a smaller thread passed around the ring and through or around each thread of the conductor in succession-that is, around the ring, and then through or around the thread of the conductor, and then around the ring again, and around the next thread of the conductor, so as to hold the conductingthreads a uniform distance apart around the ringsso that as the liquor passes slowly down the conductor it is very minutely exposed to the action of the atmosphere, which appears to destroy all the obnoxious qualities of the liquor, refining and purifying tit and giving it apparent age, and making it equal in quality to liquor of positive age. The liquor which runs from the conductors Pinto the trough Q passes through the conductors S on the cock T and runs into the cask U 0n the floor A, from which it may be drawn and barreled for sale or shipment. This process of refining and purifying relieves liquors of all grades of the impurities natural to distillation without in the least degree impairing their bodies, leaving them all their good properties, richness, and flavor belonging to the materials from which they are distilled, at the same time giving them softness and apparent ageand making them superior in point of purity to liquors of positive age. This process, if understood and practiced,would at once set aside the adulterations resorted to for softening liq uors, as the expense is so small as to preclude the use of drugs for that purpose. This process will at once remedy the evil arising from mixed adulterated liquors for medicinal purposes, which renders it of the greatest importance and value to invalids who are recommended to use liquor by their physicians.

I claim 7 1. The apparatus describedin the foregoing specification, or such an equivalentapparatus as will expose the alcohol, whisky, or other THOMAS THOMPSON.

\Vitnesses:

I. DENNIS, Jr., ALFRED HUNTER. 

